An Immeasurable Crisis A Criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and Why They Cannot Be Measured 英文参考文献.docVIP

Open access, freely available online Policy Forum An Immeasurable Crisis? A Criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and Why They Cannot Be Measured Amir Attaran I n September 2000, 147 heads of state met at the United Nations (UN) headquarters—the largest if the desired trend of improvement is actually occurring. Although UN scientists know about these troubles, the necessary corrective steps are being held up by political interference, including by the organisation’s senior leadership, who have ordered delays to amendments that could repair the MDGs [3]. In short, ?ve years into the MDG project, in too many cases, one cannot know if true progress towards these very important goals is occurring. Often, one has to guess. for the medical circumstances of those births or deaths—or the lives in between—are unreliable. Accordingly, most of the available data on the health MDGs come from methods of estimation, censuses, specialised household surveys, or all of these together. such gathering ever—to resolve action on the most pressing problems of humanity and nature [1]. To underscore their commitment, they set numerical targets and deadlines to measure performance. These are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and they span a large range of topics, including poverty, infectious disease, education, and gender equality (Box 1). This September, the heads of state will gather again for the Millennium +5 Summit to assess the ?ve-year progress of the MDGs. They will ?nd that the MDGs have become all-important, not just within the UN, but also as the zeitgeist of the global development enterprise. As Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the UN’s Millennium Project, has declared, “To the extent that there are any international goals, they are the Millennium Development Goals” [2]. But is it wise to elevate the MDGs to the pedestal where they now sit? Could it be, despite an appearance of ?rm targets, deadlines, and focused urgency, that the MDGs are actually impr